It All Started With A Word
by projectexplosion
Summary: Will Ron acting weird bring the two Head's close enough for them to realize their feelings? Series.
1. I care?

**Author's Note: Let's all just pretend this is set modern day, after the war. All the students are also repeating their last year.**

 **Chapter 1**

Hermione was devastated, it was October, only a month after the school year at Hogwarts had started and Ron had already made her cry. Hot tears burned a path down her cheeks as she rushed down the corridor towards the statue of Aphrodite. The statue didn't even ask for the password, which was flipping her off. (Draco had taught the statue and there was no going back no matter how much Hermione begged which was a reason her and Draco had an earsplitting row in the Great Hall much to everyone else's amusement.) She just moved aside and opened the door disguised as a painting.

Hermione didn't even have the energy to run to her room, which was located across from the living room and kitchen, up a flight of stairs and on the left. Draco's was on the right and in the middle was the bathroom they shared, much to their horror. She went into the kitchen to get a glass of water to try and calm herself down when she just collapsed, dropping the glass which shattered and began to cry her heart out.

Draco was on his way back from Quidditch tryouts, he was team captain after all and needed a good team. In high spirits after a good day, he sauntered down the hallway towards the Head's dorms and stopped in front of Aphrodite. She looked worried and said to Draco, "Be nice, she looked like hell and was balling her eyes out, poor girl. I couldn't catch a full sentence but she was muttering Weasel's name." Draco berated himself internally, that's why she looked so sad sometimes. He just nodded, flipped her off and went in.

He immediately noticed a heaving and choking sound, like someone couldn't breath. He rushed over to the source and found Hermione curled in a ball on the floor of the kitchen in a pile of glass and blood, crying a river. He was horrified and gently picked her up in his arms, murmuring soothing words and laid her on the couch, running his hands through his hair, distraught. He gently picked up her arm and began to clean her wounds.

After he was satisfied, he picked up a book from the coffee table, sat down in an armchair and began to read, sneaking glances at the sleeping girl, just realizing how beautiful she was with her curvy body, rosy lips and soft golden hair, which was less frizzy now, just really curly.

After about twenty minutes, Hermione began to stir, she open her soft hazelnut eyes and found soft grey ones staring back down at her. She jumped and squealed, "Malfoy what are you doing!" She thought back and mentally reviewed her thoughts and tears once again started to leak out of her eyes and drip down her face.

Draco sat down beside her and said in an angry but surprisingly soft volume as not to scare her, "I can fucking kill Weasel right now for you if you want. I don't know what he said this time but it must have been worse than before because you're crying and that's not a sight I thought I would ever see." Hermione raised her head and whispered in a heartbreakingly sad voice, "Draco how do you know it was him," confused and then remembering her manners, stuttered out, "th-than-ks," still hampered by her tears. Draco was shocked, she actually thanked him and replied, "Well first off Aphrodite told me you were muttering his name but also Potty seems to actually care despite the fact he hurts your feelings all the time by not noticing you, Weaselette is like your sister and you wouldn't be hurt by anyone else's comments which leaves Weasel.

She pursed her lips, unwilling to say what he said in front of Draco, why did he even care? Draco saw the unwillingness to speak and knew he was going to have to pry it out of her. Hermione saw the determination in his eyes and simply said, "Malfoy, he just wanted to get with me and when I said no for the hundredth time this year, he got angry and started to call me names, that's all." and shrugged.

Draco knew when someone was hiding something so pushed more and growled, "Granger what the fuck did Weasel call you that was so bad it made you cry? Whore. Slut. Chit. Because you know none of those are true." Each word was said like they were poisonous and for a brief moment she wondered why he was trying to comfort her. "Look Malfoy it wasn't those although he has called me that before…" slowing down when she saw the horror and anger in his eyes, now a stormy grey, ready to strike someone down with lightening, "I'm tired okay, thank you for fixing me up but I'm going to go rest now," she murmured softly trying to placate the storm brewing inside of him. "Don't do anything, I am a witch who can take care of herself," with her old spunk coming back into her voice but not quite reaching her eyes, and with that she got up and went to her room.

Draco however could see the pain in her eyes and the burden she carried, weighing her shoulders down almost as if it were real. He briefly wondered why he cared so much but then assigned the blame to friendship. They were friends and friends cared this much… right?

 **This is my first Fan Fiction, sorry if its short and please review and leave tips! I need all the criticism I can get! There will be many, many more chapters so please follow too!**


	2. The Weasel's Tyrade

**Chapter 2**

 **I'll try and do as much as I can until school starts. Love all of you who read this and please help a newbie and review!**

A week passed after the "incident" and Hermione was relieved. Ron had mumbled an apology, prompted by Harry and Ginny she suspected but after they left he muttered, "Whore" and stalked off. She avoided him, the sight of him in class however only brought pain and tears. She remembered the fun they used to have and the battles fought together and even the kisses they had shared. She wondered what had caused Ron to possibly act this way. It hurt and weighed her down.

Draco noticed that Hermione had improved but not much. She still walked around with an invisible weight on her back, no longer baked, her eyes no longer sparkled, she didn't participate in class and she never argued with Draco, their favorite pastime and way of bonding. He wanted her back to normal, despite everything, they were friends and he missed their ridiculous fights.

After another week passed, Ron was still being a prat but Hermione was getting over it. Her eyes no longer welled up when she saw him and her heart twisted just a little less every time. She even missed fighting with Draco and had gone out to Hogsmeade to buy baking ingredients. Maybe next time she would invite Draco and they could bake together.

Hermione and Draco were sitting in their common room reading and eating Hermione's delicious white chocolate, macadamia cookies when their was a banging on their door.

"Open this damn door right now Malfoy or I swear I'll kill you!" Ronald Weasley yelled.

Draco drawled, "Go the fuck away Weasel, neither of us wants to see you, I can tell you that for sure." Ron continued to yell about Draco being a stuck up pureblood and the fact that he was still secretly a death eater and that Hermione should stay away. Hermione, fed up with his attitude yelled, "Go AWAY Ronald, I can take care of myself and for that fact Draco is my friend and NOT a Death Eater!"

Draco had been twitching through Weasel's whole tirade, this Death Eater stuff was getting old, why couldn't everyone just accept he had been a spy! He did however look up from his book when Hermione called him a friend. That was a big step, she would be encouraging the wrath of Potty and Weaselette, who still hated him to the very core although no one could believe what came out of crazy Weasel's mouth these days. He knew Potty was getting worried about his friend and Weaselette would realize it soon enough.

Ron couldn't believe the little whore was calling Draco a friend. She probably was just shagging him and that was unacceptable, it made him see red. He also didn't understand why she had dumped him a year ago. He wanted her back and was willing to do anything. If he kissed her and they had sex, she would love him forever right? He had a funny inkling that was not how it worked but he pushed it away and the fog settled over his mind once more.

"Hermione fucking Granger you little Mudblood whore open this fucking door right now and let me screw you like I know Malfoy is doing!" He yelled.

Hermione clapped a hand to her mouth, he had gone too far and the love she felt for him shattered. Like balloons that had slipped out of a child's grasp, her happiness floated up into the sky. She watching them sadly and it tore at her heart that she was unable to do anything. They would come back down eventually but in fragments, scattered around the four corners of the earth. None of them would ever be whole again and it would take true love to piece them back together.

Her knees went weak and she started to tremble, sliding to the ground. She knew she should just get up and go tell Headmistress McGonagall but she couldn't bring herself to turn in her lifetime friend. He would make it up, he was sick, he couldn't possibly mean it…

Draco had enough. Hermione deserved better friends than this, he couldn't believe what had just come out of Weasel's mouth. He looked over, her mouth turned down, lower lip trembling. Her eyes held nothing but pain and had a vacant look, as if she was reliving the past. She seemed to fold in on herself as if she were trying to disappear.

Strong arms suddenly caught Hermione as she slid to the ground and carried her over to the couch.

Draco didn't hesitate, after he deposited her on the couch he pulled out his wand and marched over to the door. She had stood up for him, called him a friend and look where it got her! He open the door, stuck out his wand and yelled, "Stupefy!" Aphrodite sighed, turned to him and said, "About time, the lunatics been out here raving for hour and he even tried to force me to open the door!" "My bad 'Dite, I was hoping he's just go away."

Draco moaned as he realized that he had a bigger problem. Hermione. She would be an absolute mess, he had no experience with this sort of thing. If a girl started to cry, he usually just left. He braced himself for the waterworks and went inside.

"Draco Malfoy, just WHAT do you think you're doing?!" Wild eyed, bushy haired Hermione yelled, wand out.

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